Devizes Warhamster 2007
Game 3
Game 3 was against an Arab army, which had
- 9 Units of 4 attack, no save infantry
- 9 units of 3 attack, no save infantry
- 6 units of bowmen
- Not much else
The Arabs deployed in a big block, with a skin of bowmen and with 4-attack foot in support. As I slowly advanced, they did a huge amount of shuffling, and effected an advance and then a rapid refusal of their flank against the advance of my shock cavalry. For all this, the basic formation remained unchanged, and overall there was relatively little maneuver.
I really couldn’t come up with any answer to 4-attack infantry (who would be at 5 attacks when charging, against my best foots best possible 3 + a save on a 5) so as I saw that the Arabs were fronted by relatively weak (2 attack) bowmen) I decided to wade in with all my infantry and cavalry at the same time to try and nail enough bowmen to allow me to lurch over the line by killing relatively few of the harder boys in subsequent rounds.
This was a great theory, and I managed to get all 8 of my infantry units into combat in 2 ranks in about the 2nd or 3rd turn - however I had totally failed to appreciate the bowmen being charged shooting rules. In WMA units charge individually - so my 8 units charged as 8 separate actions - and as each charges, any bases that are not-yet-contacted in any of the bowmen units that I charged (including units I only contacted at a corner) were able to shoot back at them. As all units are the same size, each charger is always contacting 2 units, and maybe 3 - so this meant that each unit in my front rank took at least 5 shots as they charged into the long line of bowmen, and I have a horrible suspicion the first one took 9!!
Much to my horror the impact of these shots was devastating, AND I found (remembered) they also counted towards combat resolution, as well as meaning some of my stronger front line troops suffered lost bases through casualties on the way in- so my less survivable troops were fighting in the front rank and my supporting rank was no longer fully effective.
So, instead of my attack coming in at 3 dice + 1 for charging vs Bowmen’s 2 dice, it worked out as my 4 dice vs. 4 or 5 dice per bowmen base - and I also had less supporting ranks!!
Consequently, as the bowmen got more dice than me, and had a fuller supporting rank, I was beaten in the first round of combat - also meaning the 2nd rank elite Arab swordsmen were able to advance through the gaps caused by casualties among the bowmen and hit me in the 2nd round of combat with 4 attacks + 1 for advancing - when I was down to 3 attacks, or even 2 with the warband, who get a -1 if they lose the preceding round.
This meant my entire infantry force was wiped out in 2 turns / 3 rounds of combat and the game was over in about an hour. I didn't have time to take photos, as there was one charge, I had 2 rounds of combat, and then my opponent had one round of combat and there was nothing left.
All in all not a satisfying game - I had totally underestimated the effectiveness of the bow + good foot 2nd rank combination, and assumed that the bowmen were a soft target when in fact it might well have been easier to attack the foot alone! This seemed wildly counter intuitive - or a great tactic for the Arabs, whichever way you look at it!
It must be said that I had also attacked with the foot and slightly before my elephants and shock cavalry got into range, but with the multiple move system I had hoped to be able to throw my shock troops into combat at the same time but they had failed the move command roll after my spearmen were already engaged. However the losses of the spearmen would have still meant I would have lost the game - the only thing the cavalry and elephants could have done was to add a few more points to my losing score.
Again in retrospect I now think the mounted troops should have led the line again - they would have been less susceptible to shooting as being narrow based, they would only contact (and thus take shooting from) 1 unit of foot during each charge rather than 2 or 3. This was down to me relying on DBM assumptions about the vulnerability of mounted to bowfire relative to that of foot - and them being reversed in Warhamster !
On to the report of Game 4 against Alexander The Great
or here for my bookshop of Warmaster Ancients Armies
